Pssst: Ron Paul has already won

posted at 2:01 pm on May 15, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

Ron Paul announced yesterday that he would not campaign in any states where primaries have yet to take place, a statement that many took to be a withdrawal from the campaign. This morning, the campaign held a conference call with the media explaining that they had no way to prevent Mitt Romney from winning the nomination outright with bound delegates, but they still hope to have a “major impact at the national convention” anyway:

Rep. Ron Paul’s campaign conceded Tuesday it probably cannot win enough delegates to be the Republican presidential nominee, though it said it still will try to play a major role at August’s convention in shaping the GOP’s rules and platform going forward.

A day after the Texas congressman told supporters he is scaling down his campaign and won’t actively compete for votes in the 11 states still to hold primaries, his campaign said Mr. Paul still will try to maximize the number of actual supporters he has going to the convention — even though in many cases they may not be able to vote for him to be the nominee over front-runner Mitt Romney.

“Several hundred will be bound to Dr. Paul, and several hundred more, although bound to Governor Romney or other candidates, will be Ron Paul supporters,” said Jesse Benton, Mr. Paul’s chief strategist, in a memo describing the state of the race.

“Unfortunately, barring something very unforeseen, our delegate total will not be strong enough to win the nomination. Governor Romney is now within 200 delegates of securing the party’s nod. However, our delegates can still make a major impact at the national convention and beyond,” Mr. Benton said.

Politico reports that the campaign wants to get more control over its supporters, seeing a series of incidents in state conventions as embarrassing and potentially harmful to their long-term plans:

In the past few days alone, several incidents cast the campaign in an unfavorable light: Mitt Romney’s son Josh was booed off the stage by Paul backers in Arizona on Saturday, and Romney surrogates Tim Pawlenty and Gov. Mary Fallin received similarly rude treatment in Oklahoma. They were the latest in a string of recent disruptions from Maine to Alaska that threatened to tarnish Paul’s legacy and marginalize the ideas he believes will one day dominate the Republican Party.

“It concerns him,” campaign chairman Jesse Benton told POLITICO. “He wants to convey to everybody and our staff want to convey that we’ll lose more than we gain if we go and we’re disrespectful. Respect and decorum are very important to Dr. Paul.”

“You need to give respect to get respect,” he added. “We are confident that there will be mutual respect at the convention. We want to make sure that we take every step we can to make sure that happens.”

Paul will retire from the House at the end of this year, and his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, is widely expected to run for president in 2016 as a Republican. Against that backdrop, the Paul high command worries about Pyrrhic victories: hostile takeovers at state conventions that win hordes of delegates but generate a backlash that could hurt the younger Paul in four years and prevent up-and-coming libertarians from obtaining positions of leadership in local parties.

In fact, that has been the goal all along. While Paul’s rank-and-file supporters wanted to believe that he could win the nomination, especially at a brokered convention, that has always been an unrealistic expectation — and nothing indicates that the Paul campaign believed it. Their focus on caucus states hints at a much different, longer-term strategy, as does their qualified exit from the remaining primaries. As I explain in my column today for The Week, the timing has nothing to do with supposedly avoiding embarrassing losses in upcoming states, but is an indication that Paul has already succeeded:

The real story comes from the event types still left in the nomination process. All eleven contests are primaries, all but one binding on delegates. Paul cannot compete with Romney in primaries, and hasn’t bothered to even put up a fight in primaries for months. The last state with at least part of its delegate allocations from caucusing was Indiana, an event that took place last Tuesday, where Romney cleaned up. The last non-binding event takes place this week in Nebraska. After that, every state will hold binding primaries, and Paul will have no hope of winning delegates in any of them. Why waste money on a dry well? …

So what is the real endgame? Some wonder whether Paul wants to stage a demonstration at the Republican convention, which he adamantly denied last week. Rumors have also circulated that Paul would flex his muscle to get the rules changed and unbind all delegates at the convention, but he doesn’t have that kind of muscle, and it wouldn’t result in a Paul nomination even if he did. Paul’s delegates will have an impact on the party platform, which most believe is the object of Paul’s strategy, but party platforms don’t really have that much practical impact. Few people read them, and even fewer candidates feel bound to them.

Most people miss the fact that Paul has already achieved his end game, or is within a few weeks of its conclusion. The aim for Paul isn’t the convention, which is a mainly meaningless but entertaining exercise in American politics. The real goal was to seize control of party apparatuses in states that rely on caucuses. With that in hand, Paul’s organization can direct party funds and operations to recruit and support candidates that follow Paul’s platform, and in that way exert some influence on the national Republican Party as well, potentially for years to come. Paul hasn’t won every battle in that fight, but Minnesota will probably end up being more the rule than the exception.

Having that kind of organizational strength at the local and state level does more than just put Rand Paul in position to run in 2016 or 2020. Most of those party positions will be subject to new elections within the next two years, if not sooner at the more local levels. Paul’s supporters have to show that they will stick to their mission well enough to keep winning those elections in the precincts and Congressional districts, and then use their influence to boost candidates who follow the Paul agenda. It’s a strategy for long-term evolution rather than momentary revolution, which is why Benton wants to tamp down on disruptions that could discredit and derail the mission before they have a chance to influence Congressional and gubernatorial elections in 2014.

Don’t be surprised if Paul makes nice with Romney before the convention, either. He’s playing a longer game than anyone else thus far, and whatever one thinks of Paul’s platform, his strategy is undeniably succeeding.

A top campaign official for Ron Paul’s presidential campaign says there’s “no chance” that the Texas Republican congressman will endorse Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson for president over presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

“No,” campaign chairman Jesse Benton said in a response to a question from The Daily Caller about whether Paul would discuss the possibility of an endorsement with Johnson during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday. “There’s no chance of that.” …

While that’s good news for Romney, Benton said he does “not believe that that is likely” Paul will endorse Romney, though he kept the option open.

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Secondly the handful of places they got delegates and took part of party are places that are liberal and don’t elect GOP to much of anything.

jp on May 15, 2012 at 3:26 PM

Spot on. Between Romney and newt they got more than 70% of the vote here in NV and yet Herr Doktor’s imbecile pot smoking army were able to snatch most of the delegates.

I am still asking why is GOP supporting a libertarian to be on a GOP ticket/primaries in the first place. On top of a racist/anti-semite “representing” GOP in any way, which only works against the brand no matter how you look at it.

Politico reports that the campaign wants to get more control over its supporters, seeing a series of incidents in state conventions as embarrassing and potentially harmful to their long-term plans

Ron Paul supporter Jason Lewis says as much. He’s wise enough to throw his support behind Romney for the general and admits that Paul’s most difficult problem in relating his message is a significant portion of his following.

Last night he had a couple of Paulnut callers and he got frustrated trying to reason with them. They, of course, regularly call him a traitor (and worse) for lining up behind Romney.

I can’t stand the Paulnuts I know. Arrogant jerks with whom you cannot reason. I realize that’s anecdotal and a generalization, but in my experience it’s true more often than not.

I can’t stand the Paulnuts I know. Arrogant jerks with whom you cannot reason. I realize that’s anecdotal and a generalization, but in my experience it’s true more often than not.

mankai on May 15, 2012 at 3:37 PM

They infiltrated local primary here scheduled specifically for observant Jews. Herr Doktor’s campaign urged locals to vote at as many precincts as they could and pin poninted the one for Jews specifically. The morons did show up and were (correctly) judged impostors and asked to prove they are “observant Jews”. They refused and created a scene in the process having cops arrive to sort this out. Cops, of course, being cops, allowed them to participate. Never mind this was for observant Jews (Saturday primary in NV) and one thing that should have CLEARLY given them away to any cop with even half a brain were prodigious number of tattoos displayed by this “observant Jews” crowd (Jewish religion forbids any mods, so to speak, one has to leave the world same way they entered).

As you can imagine, pro Newt crowd was overriden by the idiots who all supposedly stand for “freedom and peace”. ALL OF THEM MAJOR SCUMBAGS and it all starts at the top. Please don’t try to convince me that Herr Doktor had no idea what his campaign is doing in NV and elsewhere.Same as with his decades long racist and anti-semtic views, which he “just had no idea were taking place”, for his idiot army to go after Jews only crowd was despicable in more ways than one and further proof they are great followers of their racist, anti-semitic master.

Political power can be grasped with a stealth grassroots movement like the Paul campaign, and his supporters will be in a position to control or influence the operation of several state GOP organizations after this campaign.

But power isn’t a goal in itself, it must be wielded and used to further an agenda, and that means day-to-day involvement with government and politics. I seriously doubt the Paul supporters are interested in those tasks, or up to performing them.

Running a state party isn’t as easy as gaming an online poll or grooving on the brownies.

If anyone can answer this question for me, Ron Paul does not have as many delegates as Rick Santorum, I understand they are saying he has grassroots power, but he has few followers than Santorum, or Newt, isn’t that true?

Am I not getting it? I know that Paul supporters are trying to get places on the roster to go to Tampa as Romney delegates, but that should not give Ron Paul power, since the count of votes will never go past the first one.

And they get to participate in a republican party platform? how much freedom do they get?

Romney will be the candidate and has already said most of what he is going to run on.

The right has been trying for decades to ‘reform’ the GOP. How well have you done so far?

MelonCollie on May 15, 2012 at 3:03 PM

ask Dick Lugar, Murkowski, and the Tea party freshman in the house, it’s working so far, the tea party rose to reform the GOP, it’s a national coalition of patriotic individuals who wish to go back to the ideals of the constitution and reduce national govt. Do you know what i read every time i go through a Ron Paul thread on the internet?anti-semitism, Jew hatred, trutherism, NWO conspiracies(involving jews/zionists) of course.

There hasn’t been a single time in over 6 plus years of Ron Paul thread perusing that i havn’t come across this, not one.

Ron Paul’s political base and foundation comes from decades of Alliances with the nastiest Human beings in American politics, Lew Rockwell, Willis carto, David Duke, Don Black, all vicious anti-semites and white supremacists, he has never disavowed them, quite them contrary he accepts their support and works with them. He is indeed trying to morph the GOP into his perverse ideals, much like he succeeded morphing the Libertarian party in the 80’s

Which is all why their attepted GOP “coup” has fizzled and they are trying to come up with another justification for all the work they put in… hence, the talk of their “long game”. Right Way

In Massachusetts the delegates have already sworn to vote for Romney at the convention, if they don’t the alternate comes in, if that person can’t do it, it keeps going until the MA GOP puts someone in.

What really surpises me about the Paul followers is how young they are, because, I am older than they, but find him to be a squeaky elderly guy, you might call SPRY, but think he was past his prime to be president. Just a squeak past.

Dr. Paul? If so I’d say that’s correct. He is not what most think of as a Conservative, nor is he a Party man. He is not my favorite regardless. I do hope his supporters will support the R nom come convention time however.

With or without Dr. Paul……understand….thought you meant something else.

But our own reform just won’t be the same as what the Paulbots want. If you don’t give them every reform immediately, and even stuff that will never be part of the Republican platform, they’ll take their non-Republican votes elsewhere.

It’s like a hobo telling you you’ve got to remodel your home to their liking, just so they can stay a few days and then leave.

But power isn’t a goal in itself, it must be wielded and used to further an agenda, and that means day-to-day involvement with government and politics. I seriously doubt the Paul supporters are interested in those tasks, or up to performing them.

That has been my concern in NV, because at my caucus in Reno in February, most of the RP supporters wanted to go to the County Convention, where they could likely become delegates to the State Convention, but none wanted to join the Washoe County Central Committee, where the real party-building and financing work get done.

I fear that many in Clark County (Las Vegas) will quit once Paul is not the nominee, leaving the party decimated in the most populated NV county, and thereby hurt the GOTV effort for November.

Reform of the R party is coming. We are patient. We will do it with or without Dr. Paul. We would prefer with. Make no mistake in the years ahead there will be major changes.

Bmore on May 15, 2012 at 4:54 PM

That would be nice if that could actually happen… especially where fiscal policy and social issues were concerned.

While I understand that social conservatives want to preserve their moral values – and some of those ARE valid and should be addressed – some things need to be cultivated from the person-to-person grassroots level, and not by top-down federal or state prohibitions/restrictions. To me, “individual liberty” does NOT mean nanny-state-ish laws against gay marriage(-type benefits) or marijuana use.

The same holds true for Rmoney™, at least as far as HA Rmoney™ supporters go.

Bmore on May 15, 2012 at 4:57 PM

Well, maybe but the polling shows that Romney supporters tend to be the majority of the rank and file Republicans. Paul supporters tend to be a fringe element that isn’t really even composed of all that many Republicans. Many Paul supporters are independents or Democrats.

To me, “individual liberty” does NOT mean nanny-state-ish laws against gay marriage(-type benefits) or marijuana use.

Society generally structures itself (writes laws) in order to allow it to run more smoothly.

Societies institutionalized (defined) marriage over thousands of years and hundreds of societies as the union of a man and a woman because they needed such an institution for a smoothly running society.

Redefining marriage to include same sex couples does nothing for society as a whole.

With regards to marijuana, when the police can quickly test a driver to determine if they are under the influence, as they can with a breathalyser for alcohol, then I might be more inclined to support legalization.

With regards to marijuana, when the police can quickly test a driver to determine if they are under the influence, as they can with a breathalyser for alcohol, then I might be more inclined to support legalization.

If marijuana were proven to have medicinal value, then I wouldn’t have a problem with prescribing it, the same as with opiates for pain management, but I wouldn’t want to see anyone taking either of those driving.

I smoked pot twice while in college nearly 30 years ago, and have no desire to ever do it again. Still, I don’t see it as that much worse than drinking, especially since it’s somewhat unusual to see a belligerent pot-head, whereas plenty of men and women get rather aggressive after three or four drinks.

I am not a social Conservative. I am however a fiscal Conservative. The changes to the Party will come from the ground up. Right now the Party is controlled by the top. This will change, we are busy working to see that it does, it will take many years. I am hopeful that we do not have to start over from scratch, i.e. the Conservative Party. If the R’s elect to continue down the path of destruction that they have partaken in, they will be the next Whigs. The time for compromise is coming to an end. The pendulum must swing or the fiscal house of cards will collapse. It will collapse under its own weight or we can try to control it. Rmoney™ is likely to be the next President, if this occurs, and I hope it does. He will quite possibly be a one term President if he does the things the country is in dire need of fiscally. We should embrace the Dr. Paul supporters as they care deeply about fiscal issues. For the good of the country I will support Rmoney™, not because I think he is the correct candidate at the correct time. But because he is the only option at this time. Hopefully Dr Pauls supporters will come to this same decision.

No. As in HELL, NO! Herr Doktor’s views are NOT in any way coincide with conservatives’, on most issues. He should have run as a Libertarian candidate, not GOP. If he is so against GOP, then there is no reason for him to masquerade as such. I don’t like Romney, for a number of reasons, but Herr Doktor is by far the worst liar there is with racist, anti-semitic views very few in GOP hold (Buchanan anyone?)

For a fiscal conservative, as most here insist, the guy is only second fiddle to libs when it comes to pork barrel. Yes, some will argue he “just gets what constituents demand”, but in truth he has been raping national casino for years for hundreds of millions. So much for “fiscal conservative” BS.

THE GUY IS A MISERABLE, CONNIVING, LYING HUMAN BEING AND A PRETENDER OF HIGHEST ORDER. NOTHING ELSE.

Kind of funny when you see Ron Paul advertisements to buy stupid BS especially his racist newsletters that he penned as long you give him 49.95 a month. At least Romney created jobs and invested in successful industries whereas Ron Paul just ripped people off by preying on their stupidity.

“But but Romney fired people.” Welcome to Capitalism, dummy. People get fired or redeployed to the workforce all the time. What? You’re not so much of a capitalist now?

ask Dick Lugar, Murkowski, and the Tea party freshman in the house, it’s working so far, the tea party rose to reform the GOP, it’s a national coalition of patriotic individuals who wish to go back to the ideals of the constitution and reduce national govt.

Golem, I think you meant Bennett as the Kowski is still in the senate and the GOP IIRC let her keep her spots despite going write in.

We don’t have long and the tea party is stalling IMHO.

To the folks here who’ve complained about Paulbots/nuts etc., I get your point as I have my issues with them. Just understand, your feelings on them are often how I feel about GOP/conservatives who still believe in the drug war, trust cops implicitly (they’re part of the corrupt gov folks), buy into compassionate conservatism and actually say they don’t have problem with gun background checks.

Political power can be grasped with a stealth grassroots movement like the Paul campaign, and his supporters will be in a position to control or influence the operation of several state GOP organizations after this campaign.

But power isn’t a goal in itself, it must be wielded and used to further an agenda, and that means day-to-day involvement with government and politics. I seriously doubt the Paul supporters are interested in those tasks, or up to performing them.

Running a state party isn’t as easy as gaming an online poll or grooving on the brownies.

Let me remind you that in Mississippi, there are literally hundreds of local Ron Paul politicians who not only are “up to performing them” but ARE performing them…. I know this because I’m one of them. You underestimate how much people care about the cause for Liberty.